Brown Dog Tick Management: Crack and Crevice Dust Treatments for IPM

The brown dog tick (BDT) is a pest that affects dogs in outdoor and indoor environments. Management of the BDT is challenging because the ticks hide in cracks and are resistant to commonly used control measures. Like bed bugs, BDTs infest homes and aggregate in cracks and crevices for safety from predators and to retain moisture. The aim of our study was to determine the potential for the use of crack and crevice dust treatments by testing several products, including desiccant dusts, botanical pesticides, and fungal powders against nymph and adult stages of the BDT. Treatments tested included the active ingredients diatomaceous earth, amorphous silica gel, pyrethrin, dinotefuran, piperonyl butoxide, 2-phenethyl prioponate, soybean oil, eugenol, orthoboric acid, deltamethrin, cyfluthrin, and Beauveria bassiana strain GHA. Five adult ticks were placed on a treated filter paper in a Petri dish and five nymphs were placed in a treated filter paper packet. All ticks were left for a one hour exposure and observed to understand the effects of the treatment on tick behavior. Several treatments showed promise for BDT management. This study is important because effective treatments for BDT are limited and our results will help improve current BDT best management practices.